Most Texans favor adding more exceptions to Texas’ abortion ban, including exceptions for rape and incest, according to a study from the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs.
In January, university researchers polled 1,200 Texans — representative of statewide demographics — about their opinions on anticipated topics during the current legislative session, including abortion.
The resulting study found that 49% of Texans want state legislators to pass laws that make it easier to access an abortion in Texas; 13% favor legislation that makes it harder to have an abortion.
Currently, abortion is illegal unless a pregnant woman’s life or a “major bodily function” is at risk. Among those surveyed, 83% said they support legalizing abortion when a pregnancy results from rape or incest. 84% said they support legalizing abortion when there is a lethal fetal diagnosis, meaning the baby is likely to die before or shortly after birth.
Respondents were also asked the latest point in a pregnancy when they believed Texas should allow a woman to access an abortion for any reason. About half of Texans surveyed said they favored a ban at either six or 12 weeks of pregnancy and 23% said abortion should never be allowed.
Responses differed along political party and religious lines. For instance, Democrats were significantly more likely than Republicans to favor legal abortion through 20 weeks of pregnancy. Compared to all other religious groups, self-identified “Born-Again Protestants” were far more likely to believe that unrestricted abortion should never be allowed at any stage of pregnancy.
Despite broad public support for certain exceptions, Texans will not have the ability to directly vote on matters related to the state's abortion law unless a two-thirds majority of the state’s House and Senate elect to bring a constitutional amendment before voters.
Previous legislation aimed at introducing new exceptions to Texas’s abortion bans have not gained traction, although similar bills have been filed again this year.
Many challenges to the state’s abortion laws have focused on efforts to clarify the boundaries of the ban’s emergency medical exception. In January, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick indicated that he would support efforts to clarify that area of the law — but the topic has not yet appeared among Patrick’s official priorities for the session.
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